Even though the current election is the “most important election” in America, many Americans will opt not to participate, just as they sat out George W. Bush’s and Barack Obama’s elections. Both resulted in seismic changes for the world and America. Obama’s Affordable Care Act has transformed the health-care marketplace and insurance coverage for millions; many who opposed its passage have benefited from it, as have their families and communities. George Bush’s election by a few votes bequeathed to us the War on Terrorism. His invasion of Iraq and later Afghanistan cost incalculable human suffering and death. And trillions from the nation’s treasury.

The foregoing examples, in my opinion, illustrate the importance of each American’s participation in elections. I compare our engagement to the governments we get. Jefferson said, “the government you elect is the government you deserve.” Implied in Jefferson’s statement is that we’re to blame for some of the awful administrations America has seen. Because the strength of our democracy is paramount, we must fully engage in the voting process.

My friend Jeff claimed to know all that the country needed and what reforms were called for to repair a creaky social order. At times I agreed with him, reminding him that action — which included voting — and not just words was needed to change the world. It was disappointing that when a 6th Congressional District race was won by someone we both considered meritless, Jeff had not bothered to vote. The election was won by 200 votes. What do you say to someone who seeds the wind with gusts of hot air?

CK is another friend, who doesn’t believe in elections, engagement in any political dialogue, pretending to be neutral and indifferent to what happens around them. Though I respect that attitude, I know it only serves to cede their say to the hyper-engaged, vociferous members of society at both ends of the political spectrum. I’ve listened and watched to learn the results of neutrality even as the nation burns. I see that an indifferent majority begets fascistic governance.

Citizens who abstain from voting belittle the fact that the cost of most Americans’ suffrage was spilled blood and lost lives. Indeed, it took the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to give all Americans a right already conferred on them by the Constitution.

There are many around the world who fight to be free, to rule themselves. I have in mind among others, the majority of South Africans during the apartheid regime. Upon his release from a 27-year incarceration in 1994, Nelson Mandela’s election involved 87% of the country’s people. Many waited for 12 hours to cast their vote. The majority of South Africans are now happy they have the vote and can use it.

Discounting the gerrymandering, willful, obstreperous confederacy-leaning South, the rest of the nation — and certainly Colorado — has a satisfactory democratic state of being. The over-the-top spurious advertisements against Dr. Yadira Caraveo and her role in the fentanyl fiasco in Colorado is false and bizarre. Sadly though, she has not been strong enough in her response to her TV accusers. TV Ads and the money required to buy them serve to muddy the waters of America’s politics. And now Elon Musk is donating $1 million to voters, aimed at swaying the election results. An uninformed electorate is easy pickings for the richest man on earth. After spending half a lifetime incarcerated by Musk’s tribe, Nelson Mandela would discourage his post-apartheid followers to be part of Musk’s scheme.

The problem is that, however leaders are elected, their actions affect all our lives, no matter what the politically unengaged say or think. It sometime seems that the electorate has innate wisdom and that what America votes in is just and rational. Until you see that it’s not always so.

I’ve already cast my vote. Should the victor unleash fascist dogs of vengeance and national disruption, I can say: I voted. I hope you can say the same too.

We tend to look for a fall guy, someone to blame for the state of our nation’s affairs. But we are here, not because immigrants ate our dogs and cats, or murdered and raped our women. We are here because we seek only easy answers; we love simple three chord tunes.

Alas, we need to work on our hearts and our minds; on our neighbors’ health and well-being. And on seeing America as “one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Pius Kamau, M.D., a retired general surgeon, is president of the Aurora-based Africa America Higher Education Partnerships; co-founder of the Africa Enterprise Group and an activist for minority students’ STEM education. He is a National Public Radio commentator, a Huffington Post blogger, a past columnist for Denver dailies and is featured on the podcast, “Never Again.”